Energy Ministers have submitted their final appeal in an attempt to overturn a High Court ruling that cuts to the Feed-in Tariff were unlawful.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change submitted the paperwork yesterday two days ahead of a deadline set from their last Court of Appeal defeat.
Because the appeal court judges refused leave to challenge their verdict, the Government must apply directly to a panel of three Supreme Justices, who will decide whether to allow the final appeal to be heard.
The outcome will decide if the reduced 21p/kWH rate for solar PV under the Feed-in Tariff applies from December 12 last year or March 3 this year.
It is impossible for the initial Supreme Court hearing to be arranged ahead of the March 3 contingency date and if the appeal is permitted, the full hearing will not be heard until late this year.
One of the successful solar litigants, HomeSun, said the appeal was a “scandalous waste” of taxpayers' money.
HomeSun CEO Daniel Green, said today: “We are hugely disappointed that Ed Davey is choosing to pursue an expensive lost cause rather than working with the industry to build a successful future for solar.
“Four Judges, one at Judicial Review and three in The Court of Appeal, ruled that the Government had acted unlawfully in setting a retrospective ‘reference’ date for the FITs cut. We wonder why Ed Davey wants to be a loser. He wasn’t the orchestrator of the Feed-in Tariff fiasco so why does he want it on his CV?
“There is no need to appeal to the Supreme Court. DECC has already achieved its objective of a solar-slowdown. Figures just out on the DECC website show that there has been a 90 per cent reduction in solar PV installations and capacity over the last nine weeks compared to the nine weeks prior to 12th December 2011. Greg Barker’s claim that this “extra time” could cost £1.5bn has now been proved to be completely unfounded.
“This has now become just a face-saving exercise for DECC paid for by the taxpayer.”
And Jeremy Leggett, chairman of Solarcentury, was equally as scathing, adding: “We have been expecting this but we hoped that Ed Davey would see sense and not take the appeal. If we are lucky this is just a cynical exercise to limit the market to 3rd March and they will withdraw in a few weeks. If not, and they really are serious about a Supreme Court appeal, then the implications for the renewables industry are deeply worrying.
"Two weeks ago, Ministers reassured the industry that they wanted to see 4 million solar homes in the UK by 2020. This appeal completely undermines that claim. They need to stop rewriting the scheme, end the constant stop-start and provide long-term stability and meaningful returns for investors and customers and give certainty to the 30,000+ employees of this successful industry – one of the few that is actively creating jobs in this country.
"If the appeal is successful it will allow Government to change feed-in tariffs whenever it chooses, even for projects that are already installed and supposedly guaranteed the feed-in tariff. At a stroke, this would undermine investment in all UK renewables, not just PV, and show investors that the UK government simply cannot be trusted.
"Fortunately their arguments are weak. They are the same ones unanimously rejected by the Court of Appeal so I wouldn’t give them much chance of success.
"Sadly, this appeal has the whiff of farce about it. First they try to woo private capital into infrastructure; then they mismanage it; now they go to the Supreme Court to argue for sovereign default to cover their tracks. I just hope the new Secretary of State actually understands what his lawyers are doing."
And Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said: "A successful appeal will allow Ministers to slash renewable energy subsidies at any time - even for solar panels and wind turbines that have been operating for years.
"If Ministers want to protect families from soaring fuel bills they must get the nation off its fossil fuel hook - and restore business confidence in the Government's commitment to a clean energy future.
"This misguided appeal will only add to the uncertainty hovering over the renewable clean energy industry and the tens of thousands of people it employs."
A DECC spokesperson said: “We respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s decision on Feed-in Tariffs and we have today lodged an application with the Supreme Court seeking that court’s permission to appeal. We are now awaiting a decision of the Supreme Court on permission.
“We want to see the available funding spread as far and wide as possible making FITs a scheme for the many not a scheme for the few, supporting sustainable jobs in solar and in a whole range of small scale renewables.”
But Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary Caroline Flint, responded: "This Government has already wasted tens of thousands of pounds on legal fees in a desperate attempt to save face over their chaotic mismanagement of the cuts to the Feed-in Tariff for solar power. Taxpayers should not be made to foot the bill for this Government’s incompetence.
"The cuts to solar power will hit families trying to protect themselves from soaring energy bills and do the right thing by the environment, and put thousands of jobs and businesses at risk.
"What the industry needs – and what the public deserves – is certainty about the future of solar power. But this Government is so out of touch, it is just creating even more uncertainty and wasting even more taxpayers money by seeking a third appeal."
Carole, Hinckley around 2 months ago